AB 2370 establishes a Public Safety Communications Division inside the Office (the office) and assigns it comprehensive responsibility for the state’s public safety communications program. The division must plan, set standards, acquire and operate communications and microwave systems, oversee statewide deployments, and coordinate with federal and other state networks.
The bill centralizes authority by making the division the exclusive state agency for these duties, requires state and participating local agencies to use division systems, and subjects most technical and maintenance contracts to office approval. Those shifts matter for agencies that run radio systems, vendors that supply equipment and services, and local emergency responders who must adopt standardized systems and procedures.
At a Glance
What It Does
Creates a new division charged with long‑range planning, standards, acquisition, licensing, installation, operation, and oversight of public safety communications and most microwave systems statewide. It authorizes the division to contract, obtain licenses, acquire property, and make systems available to public agencies on agreed terms.
Who It Affects
State agencies that operate radio and microwave networks, local public safety agencies that participate in statewide systems, vendors of communications equipment and system‑support services, and the office responsible for approving contracts and system delegations.
Why It Matters
The bill centralizes procurement and technical authority to improve interoperability and consistency but also concentrates approval power in the office, which will change procurement flows, vendor access, and local agencies’ operational flexibility.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The bill creates a single unit inside the office, the Public Safety Communications Division, and gives it a broad menu of responsibilities: assessing long‑term communications needs, developing strategic and tactical communications plans, recommending industry standards, advising on equipment selection, and overseeing statewide systems development. The division must produce an annual strategic communications plan and evaluate interfaces with federal and other state networks.
Operational powers are substantive. The division may acquire, install, equip, maintain, and operate new or existing public safety communications and most microwave systems (with a narrow exclusion for certain traffic‑control microwave equipment).
It can enter into contracts, obtain licenses, acquire property, and otherwise take necessary actions to provide communications systems. Any radios owned or operated by state agencies must be licensed, installed, and maintained in compliance with federal law, and federal licenses for state devices must be sought only in the name “State of California.”The bill makes the division the exclusive state authority on these duties and the primary authority for statewide and interjurisdictional public safety communications.
It requires state public agencies to use the systems established by the division and bars the division, state, or local agencies from entering contracts for technical, maintenance, or system support without office approval. The statute also prevents delegation of essential communications operations — including initial processing or dispatch of emergency response communications — except when the office authorizes it.
Agencies that contract within the division’s scope must notify the state bargaining representative and attempt to connect with that representative.Key operational items the division must also handle include coordinating with federal and state regulatory proceedings that affect communications, developing teleconferencing plans to reduce travel during emergencies, and providing oversight and comment on departmental plans that use public safety communications. The Department of Justice communications systems, governed elsewhere, are explicitly excluded from this chapter.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill makes the new Public Safety Communications Division the exclusive state authority for statewide public safety communications duties — other state agencies cannot perform those listed duties.
State public agencies must use communications systems established under this chapter, and the office must approve contracts for technical, maintenance, or system support services.
The division is authorized to acquire, install, and operate public safety communications and most microwave systems and to enter into contracts and obtain licenses to do so; systems must be made available to public agencies on mutually agreed terms.
All state‑owned radio transmitting devices must be licensed, installed, and maintained under federal law, and federal licenses must be obtained only in the name “State of California.”, Department of Justice communications systems governed by Chapter 2.5 (Section 15150 et seq.) and microwave equipment used exclusively for traffic signal/control, metering, and roadway surveillance are excluded.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
Every bill we cover gets an analysis of its key sections.
Establishment and enumerated duties of the Public Safety Communications Division
This subdivision creates the division and lists 11 core duties: statewide needs assessment, strategic planning, standards recommendation, procurement advice, project oversight, interagency coordination, regulatory monitoring, teleconferencing planning, federal licensing rules, and authority to acquire and operate communications systems (including microwave networks). Practically, it bundles planning, technical standards, procurement guidance, and operational authority into one office, giving that office both policy and implementation roles.
Exclusive responsibility for listed duties
This short clause bars other state public agencies from performing the duties enumerated in subdivision (a). By making the division’s duties exclusive, the bill prevents parallel state programs and centralizes accountability — but it also creates a single point of control for functions previously performed by multiple agencies.
Primary authority and mandatory system use
This section declares the division the primary authority for statewide and interjurisdictional public safety communications and requires state public agencies to utilize systems the division establishes. The practical effect is a mandate to migrate or connect to division systems when the division provides them, shaping future system architecture and migration paths for legacy networks.
Contract, delegation, and labor‑notification controls
The bill requires office approval before the division, a state public agency, or a local public agency can enter contracts for technical, maintenance, or system support services. It forbids delegating essential communications operations — including initial emergency dispatch — except with office authorization. If a state agency contracts in the division’s scope, it must immediately email the state bargaining representative and try to connect. Those rules centralize procurement oversight and insert labor‑notification steps into contracting processes.
Power to acquire, operate, and share communications and microwave systems
These clauses authorize the division to purchase, install, maintain, and operate communications and microwave infrastructure, and to make systems available to public agencies on terms the division and agency agree. The text gives the division standard acquisition powers — contracts, licenses, property acquisition — effectively enabling it to act as a statewide systems integrator and operator.
Exclusions: Department of Justice and traffic‑exclusive microwave equipment
The statute explicitly excludes Department of Justice communications governed by Chapter 2.5 and exempts microwave equipment used exclusively for traffic signal/signing control, traffic metering, and roadway surveillance. These carve‑outs limit the division’s reach in two specific operational domains and preserve separate authorities for those systems.
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Explore Government in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- State emergency management and coordination entities — gain a single point of technical leadership and unified standards, which can simplify multiagency incident communications and statewide planning.
- Local public safety agencies that join the statewide systems — receive access to interoperable radio and microwave infrastructure without individually procuring large systems, potentially lowering capital costs.
- Incident commanders and first responders — stand to benefit from standardized interfaces and protocols that can reduce friction during multi‑jurisdiction responses and simplify cross‑agency dispatching when systems are harmonized.
- Vendors that conform to the division’s standards — will have a clearer, centralized customer (the division) for large, statewide procurements and long‑term maintenance contracts.
Who Bears the Cost
- Local agencies forced to migrate or integrate — may face transition and configuration costs, training burdens, and potential loss of legacy system investments when required to adopt division systems.
- Communications vendors and contractors — lose some local procurement pathways and must navigate office approval processes; smaller vendors may be disadvantaged if the division favors large integrators or standardized solutions.
- The office and state budget — must staff and fund the new division, its planning, licensing, and operational activities; absent an appropriation in the text, these costs create implementation pressure on existing budgets.
- Labor entities and bargaining units — may face accelerated notifications and negotiation demands as agencies notify the state bargaining representative and attempt to connect over contracts and delegations.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The bill trades decentralized flexibility for centralized interoperability and standards: it aims to solve coordination and compatibility problems by concentrating authority in a single division, but in doing so it limits local agencies’ procurement and operational autonomy and risks creating approval bottlenecks and unfunded migration costs.
Centralizing planning, procurement, and operational authority simplifies oversight and may improve statewide interoperability, but the bill leaves open how migration from disparate legacy systems will be funded and paced. There is no appropriation language or clear transition funding in the text, so agencies and the new division could confront unfunded obligations — both for capital upgrades and for training and operational changes.
Contract approval and delegation restrictions create a potential bottleneck. Requiring office authorization for most technical and maintenance contracts and forbidding delegation of essential operations risks slowing emergency communications upgrades and routine support, particularly where local agencies currently rely on regional vendors or immediate contractual fixes.
The statute does not define procedural timelines for approvals or an appeals path if the office denies or delays permission. That ambiguity could become a practical barrier to timely maintenance and system resilience.
The bill inserts a labor‑notification requirement (immediate email to the state bargaining representative) without spelling out required bargaining steps or timelines, which raises questions about how contracting decisions intersect with collective‑bargaining obligations. Finally, the requirement that federal radio licenses be sought only in the name “State of California” clarifies centralized control but may create operational or security tradeoffs for interoperable systems shared with local jurisdictions and federal partners; the bill does not explain how shared governance or incident‑level control will be handled during multiagency operations.
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